Woman with bare shoulders raising her middle finger, wet plate collodion tintype

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Fine Art Tintypes — Salt Lake City

The work I make when nobody has commissioned anything.

These are the ongoing series — figure studies, self portraits, and collaborations with models, stylists, and hair and makeup artists. It is where I test what the process can be pushed to do, and it is where most of what I have learned about light came from.

Black and white, chiaroscuro, and a medium that renders skin unlike anything else make the human form an obvious subject. The studio is small and the light is scarce, which forces compositions I would not otherwise arrive at.

The figure work running through all of it is an ongoing exploration of form, contour and the limits of a small studio — collaborative by necessity, because holding a deliberate pose through a wet plate exposure is real work.

Some of this work was made in sets — two plates, or three, from a single sitting and meant to be read together. A tintype has no negative, so a set is not a burst of frames from which one is chosen: every plate is its own object, made deliberately, one after another. What changes between them is the whole point. Often it is a study in duality — the same person read two ways, or two sides of one idea.

Bodies

A woman with wavy hair falling forward over her face, bare-shouldered, leaning in toward the camera. A brick wall sits behind her. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A nude woman sitting on the ground against a brick wall with her knees drawn up and her arms around them, looking back over her shoulder. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A woman in a black lace bra and briefs, kneeling back on her heels in a pale armchair, one hand raised to her hair and the other flat on her thigh. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A woman in a black lace bra and briefs, sitting deep in a pale armchair with her knees drawn up on either side, one hand raised to her hair. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A woman in profile with a flower pinned in her hair, in an open patterned robe held at the waist, her eyes lowered. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A freckled woman with long straight hair, bare-shouldered, half-smiling. The collodion prints her freckles very dark. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A freckled woman with both hands crossed flat over her chest, bare- shouldered, looking straight into the lens. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A shirtless man with his hands at his hips and a cloth at his waist. The light rakes across from one side and picks out the musculature. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A woman photographed from behind, bare to the hips with a patterned cloth at her waist and both hands up in her hair. Tattooing covers her back, arm and hip. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A woman with long dark hair and a heavy fringe, bare-shouldered, tattoos across her shoulders and chest. A sequinned top catches the light below. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A woman seated in an open satin robe slipping off one shoulder, one leg drawn up. The plate is flaked down its right edge. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A bearded man holding a white cloth across his bare torso, his hair tied up, looking down. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A nude woman with her hair swept across her face, looking back over a bare shoulder. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A bare-chested man with a large serpent tattooed across his chest and stomach, and further tattoos down both arms. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A woman in an open cable-knit cardigan with nothing beneath it, one hand behind her neck. Wet plate collodion tintype.

Figure work where the body is the subject rather than the setting. Collaborative, slow, and made with a great deal of conversation before anyone picks up a camera. Grouped separately here so it can be viewed on purpose rather than by accident.

Rope

A blindfolded woman in a pale slip, draped in long strands of pearls, with rope tied over her eyes and bound around her arms and waist. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A man photographed with a rope harness tied across his bare chest, looking off to one side. Wet plate collodion tintype.

Cupped hands held out toward the lens and sharp, with the roped torso behind them thrown out of focus. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A woman looking upward, rope tied in a harness across a dark top and lace. Flaws break all four corners of the plate. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A tattooed woman holding a lit cigarette beside her face. She wears a septum ring and heavy floral work across one shoulder. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A woman in an elaborate headdress built around a pair of ram's horns, in long gloves and a beaded bodice with rope tied across it. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A study of storytelling through knots. Perhaps? Perhaps knot?

Self Portraits

A self portrait, close in the frame. A man with pale curly hair and grey stubble, a paisley bandana at his neck. The right side of the plate flares out to white. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A self portrait. A man with curly greying hair and a grey beard in a hooded sweatshirt, close in the frame. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A self portrait. A man with short wavy hair in a loose knitted top pulled off one shoulder, looking up past the camera. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A self portrait. A man in a knit beanie and a dark shirt, bearded, looking straight at the camera. The right half of the plate is burnt out to white. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A self portrait. A bearded man in a denim vest over a sleeveless top, a dark scarf at his neck, seated against a brick wall with tools in his hands. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A self portrait. A bearded man in a plaid flannel shirt stands beside a framed tintype hanging on a pale wall, looking off to one side. Wet plate collodion.

A self portrait. A man in a patterned brocade jacket over a dark henley. Pour flaws run right across the top of the plate. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A bare back and shoulder, most of the plate dissolved by drips and lifting collodion. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A self portrait. A man in a knitted beanie and a shearling-collared denim jacket, looking straight into the lens. Wet plate collodion tintype.

A self portrait. A man in glasses with a moustache, shirtless in shorts, sitting back in an armchair with one leg drawn up. Wet plate collodion tintype.

The hardest possible version of this process. Pre-focus the scene, hit the mark exactly, trigger the shutter, and hope. Spanning 2017 to now.

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Working with me

Get in touch early. Wet plate has real logistical constraints — light, water, ventilation, temperature — and the earlier I see the brief, the more I can do with it.

What to expect

Sessions run 1.5 to 3 hours depending on how many plates you want.
You watch the plate appear — the final stage of development happens in the studio, right in front of you. The darkroom itself stays closed: it is small, and the chemistry is not something to stand next to.
You keep the actual plate: silver on blackened metal, one of a kind, with no negative.
Every plate is scanned, and the process is filmed. Digital files and video are available as an add-on.
Plates are varnished with a traditional lavender-and-sandarac varnish and are archival for well over a century.